Public debt increases by US$407,000,000 in two months

SANTO DOMINGO. The public debt of the Dominican Republic reached US$17,000,000,000 in February of this year (RD$678,000,000,000 in Dominican pesos), which represents 30.1% of the GDP and US$407 million more than the commitments made in 2011, when the debt closed at US$16,593,000,000.

According to preliminary numbers from the Directorate General of Public Credit at the Ministry of Hacienda, of the amount of the public corresponding to the foreign debt there is US$12.017,800,000, some US$392.4 million more than in December 2011 when it closed at US$11,625,400,000, which represents 21.3% of GDP.

At the same time, the internal debt, according to Hacienda reached US$4,982.200,000 as of February of this year, which represents some US$14.7 million more that at the close of December last year, when it was US$4,967,500,000 and represents 8.8% of GDP

One piece of information that catches the eye is that the multilateral debt, that is to say the debt with the international organizations such as the World Bank or the Inter American Development Bank, is less than the bilateral debt which is made government to government.

The total multilateral debt to December 2011 was US$4,147,300,000 while the total bilateral debt was US$4.655.600,000. This means that the debt is greater with other governments.

But who does the Dominican Republic owe the most? The multilateral debt reached in February of this year, US$4,225,400,000 while the bilateral debt reached US$4,975,900,000.

The largest debt of the Dominican Republic is with Venezuela which last year had reached US$2,444,500,000 due to the PetroCaribe Agreement.